About 12. And I had killed hundreds if not thousands of snakes by that age. Hell I'd probably killed a hundred out of that single pond. This wasn't an illusion. We called it 8 feet because he was doubled up about four feet long on the log but could have been 7. All black/brown mud colored. The thing that was so striking about it was the body being so huge. It was like a triangle with fat arse snake falling off the sides towards the water.

I've never seen a cottonmouth anywhere near that big since then. shite I killed a four footer last year and was impressed as hell. Only snakes I've seen that long since then were chicken snakes.